The present invention relates to an improvement in the standard air conditioning system by using an energy or heat storage medium to provide peak shaving for reduction of power consumption at times of peak usage of the air conditioning system.
The conventional air conditioning system utilizes a compressor to compress cold, low pressure refrigerant gas to hot, high pressure gas. Next, a condenser removes much of the heat in the gas and discharges it to the atmosphere. The refrigerant comes out of the condenser as a warm, high pressure liquid which flows to an evaporator where heat from the structure to be cooled is used to evaporate the gas, thus cooling the house. The cold, low pressure gas is then recycled to the compressor. Peak usage conditions for air conditioners generally come at times when the outside temperature is very high. At such times, it is difficult for the condenser to reject internal heat to the atmosphere. The air conditioning system must be designed to accommodate high power consumption in the compressor during such periods of peak usage. The present invention provides a way to reduce the designed power-consumption capacity of the compressor through the use of an energy storage medium.